It's that time of year in Japan again....GOLDEN WEEK!! To celebrate Children's Day (こどもの日, Kodomo no hi), May 5, one of the 4 national holidays during this week-long holiday period, "koinobori (鯉幟)," or carp streamers, are flown around the country in honor of Japanese children in the hope that they will grow up healthy, strong, & happy.
A typical koinobori set consists of, from the top of the pole down, a pair of arrow-spoked wheels (矢車, yaguruma) with a ball-shaped spinning vane, a mounting windsock (吹流し, fukinagashi), and finally the koinobori. For the windsock above the koinobori, one kind is the 5-colored windsock (五色吹流し), based on the 5 elements of Chinese philosophy.
Nowadays the koinobori typically consist of the biggest (black) koinobori for the father of the family, next biggest (red or pink) for the mother, and an additional, smaller carp of a different color for each child in decreasing order by age.
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